How many years or months of training did it take you to break 20 in the 5k?

Please Stop wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

False.

Uh, no. I was a 15:35, 4:02, sub 2 half guy. I got NOTHING. i was the seventh best runner on my college team. I didnt even make the cut for track conference meet. Dude, you really need rto get a clue. D1 is sooooo competitive and there is almost no money. I know state champions who didnt even get offers. Everyone here thinks 15 min is so fast. While it may be to the masses, in the D1 world a 15 min runner is a scrub.

you are wrong as pointed out by runners on this thread who have had different experiences. And I have worked with runners in the mid to high 15s who have gotten quite a bit of money.

Please Stop wrote:

david45 wrote:

Then how fast do you have to run?

To get money? You need to be sub 16 in Cross Country (not the same as track) and be sub 4:20 for the 1600 to even sniff at an offer.

Sub 16 in cross is not the same as sub 15 on a track. there are difficult courses out there where they may be more or less equal, but there are also courses out there that more or less run like a track, and certainly within 30 seconds of a track time, if not MUCH closer

Our top 5 in XC last fall ran 15:20-15:15. The best guy got books and the other 4 got nothing. These guys contacted dozens of coaches across the country. Where are these fake schools that you are referencing? If they existed, the coaches are idiots to give good money for sub 16 because there are thousands of faster guys who woukd be happy to go there for much less money.

A couple weeks in grade 7

high school xc coach wrote:

Please Stop wrote:

To get money? You need to be sub 16 in Cross Country (not the same as track) and be sub 4:20 for the 1600 to even sniff at an offer.

Sub 16 in cross is not the same as sub 15 on a track. there are difficult courses out there where they may be more or less equal, but there are also courses out there that more or less run like a track, and certainly within 30 seconds of a track time, if not MUCH closer

Hey, bro: READ MY POST! I said sub 16 cc is not the same as sub 16 onnthe track. Really, youbare clueless about running. No way in he11 did a high 15 guy get decent track money. With an 35 ACT he might have gotten academic money, but he most certainly did notbget lots of track cash. D1 school litterlybhave dozens of guys who are alwalkons whoncan run sub 16 any day of the week. Please explain how 12.5 scholarships get divided up when youbhave throwers and sprinters competing for that money too.

Please go back to being a HS assistent with no ruuning background and keep your ignorant mouth shut.

superior guy wrote:

Our top 5 in XC last fall ran 15:20-15:15. The best guy got books and the other 4 got nothing. These guys contacted dozens of coaches across the country. Where are these fake schools that you are referencing? If they existed, the coaches are idiots to give good money for sub 16 because there are thousands of faster guys who woukd be happy to go there for much less money.

This has been my experience as a D1 walkon and a HS coach for 20+ years as well.

I meant to type 15:15-15:45.

Just for reference on D1 money: in 20+ years of HS coaching, I have only had one full ride D1 athlete: he was a mid 15 cc guy who was tob10 in D1 high school. But he was also a 4:09 state runner up 16 guy how was third in the state 800 with a 1:51. I have had numerous other sub 16 cc guys who were still sub 4:20 16 guys who got partial scholarships. None have gotten more than half ride for running.

This thread somehow morphed into what 5K time will earn a scholarship. I believe we can agree that 20:00 will not be fast enough get one.

Bottom 1%? You've never been near a distance race in your life, have you?

I was 36 when I started trying to lose weight. First I started walking, but switched to running after a few weeks. Two years later I had lost 20 pounds and surprised myself with a 19:25.

3 months of training over 3 years.

There used to be an annual 5k near me which I trained for about 2-4 weeks before it each year with a 5 day rest before the race lol. I was yet to be fully into running and had no idea what I was doing and just trained a 2km run 3 times a week that I’d run pretty hard. So about 20km total mileage of training before the race. First year I was just under 25mins then 21:30 and just under 20 on the third try. Since a trained just 2km runs I ran the first 2k in 7:30 and then painfully held on for 3km of about 4:10 ks. After each race my calves were wrecked for about a week. My weight dropped a bit each year too so my time improvement was probably mostly that.

I didn’t run a 5k until I was 17 so I guess it took me 17 years.

The question is arbitrary and open-ended.

you are wrong. nothing you say will take that fact away.

Please Stop wrote:

Just for reference on D1 money: in 20+ years of HS coaching, I have only had one full ride D1 athlete: he was a mid 15 cc guy who was tob10 in D1 high school. But he was also a 4:09 state runner up 16 guy how was third in the state 800 with a 1:51. I have had numerous other sub 16 cc guys who were still sub 4:20 16 guys who got partial scholarships. None have gotten more than half ride for running.

there are almost zero full scholarships and nobody is referring to that. but getting 6 to 10k per year is easily attainable. Add on to that either financial assistance or academic money, and many come very close to paying zero.

I have a kid this year in the 15:40s for cross--forget a 5k on the track, very few hs kids run them. He is getting 9k per year in athletic scholarship mony. Add in other forms of aid, he will leave a private D1 school with around 20k in debt. Had another kid a few years ago with similar times. He ended up fully funded with academic and athletic.

There are a lot of D1 schools out there--they aren't all NAU, COlorado, or any other big conference school you can name.

high school xc coach wrote:

but getting 6 to 10k per year is easily attainable.

See, you just prooved you are an idiot. 10k per year is easy. Right. I bet youbhave necer coached a sub 16 kid let alone an athletic scholarshup kid. Go away.

For most D1 schools, you need a sub 1:53 or sub 4:20 to even be considered for money. And the it would be very little, like 1k for books.

For me, the first time took several months.

Getting back to sub 20 a second time took 9 years and the right pair of shoes.

The story:

In my senior year of high school, I ran cross country and track. Basically, a friend asked me if i wanted to join and i said ok. Cross-Country was a struggle as my best time all season was a 22:02 for a 5k. But, knowing i wanted to do track, i trained all winter.

That early Spring, I was able to get a 19:56 at the Carlsbad 5000. Since we were the last race before the elites went, it was late enough in the morning where i felt ideal for that kind of a run.

In Spring of my senior year of college, I did a 5k put on by UCSB recreation. I thought maybe i could break 20 there, but I came 5 seconds short of that.

After that, I was more interested in basketball and so i hadn't done any distance running in favor of hours of basketball during the week.

In 2006, a friend and i were in Carlsbad and i saw people running and remembered that the Carlsbad 5000 was the next day. I decided to run it without having trained for 5k for a long time.

My time of 24:39 was pedestrian, but it piqued my interest about what i could do it with better training.

Since then, I had done races of different lengths. Two months before the 2015 Carlsbad 5000, I had seen this pair of Avia shoes that were on sale for $11. While breaking them in, I realized how comfortable and light the ride was. As a result, in my first 5k of 4 in rhe "All-day 20k" event , I was able to get a 19:35 at the age of 41.

To me, the difference between my 24:39 and my 19:35 was feel. People say it's fitness, weight ratio, mileage, etc. And while they do play a part, how you feel that day could result in a time above 20 even if you're in sub 20 shape.

The 5k i felt the best before where i thought even 19 would go down, I got a 22:08 because the shoes i had just didn't feel right that day even though i liked them while breaking them in.

This how you feel is a lot of why runners may "bonk" unexpectedly.

As many on letsrun do, by relegating times purely to fitness and weight shows that you may understand what your coach told you, but you may not understand the vast realm outside of your coach or buddies

Please Stop wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

but getting 6 to 10k per year is easily attainable.

See, you just prooved you are an idiot. 10k per year is easy. Right. I bet youbhave necer coached a sub 16 kid let alone an athletic scholarshup kid. Go away.

For most D1 schools, you need a sub 1:53 or sub 4:20 to even be considered for money. And the it would be very little, like 1k for books.

Go look at the list of around 320 D1 track programs. look at the stats for those teams. and then come back and tell me those programs are giving good money to sub 16 cross kids. you are very insecure for somebody who is supposedly such a successful coach

high school xc coach wrote:

Please Stop wrote:

See, you just prooved you are an idiot. 10k per year is easy. Right. I bet youbhave necer coached a sub 16 kid let alone an athletic scholarshup kid. Go away.

For most D1 schools, you need a sub 1:53 or sub 4:20 to even be considered for money. And the it would be very little, like 1k for books.

Go look at the list of around 320 D1 track programs. look at the stats for those teams. and then come back and tell me those programs are giving good money to sub 16 cross kids. you are very insecure for somebody who is supposedly such a successful coach

*are not giving...